Must read - Daily Finance on Google and Verizon

Sep 8, 2010

So, we now have the curious situation that while the Google-Verizon proposal doesn’t require net neutrality for wireless networks, Verizon Wireless is preparing to roll out 4G wireless service under open-access provisions — a service that will likely power millions of Google Android-equipped devices.

Sam Gustin’s backstory on the Google-Verizon anti-Net Neutrality pact is one of the best I’ve read about the issue.

There’s tons to dig through, but one bit about wireless stuck out.

Back in 2008, Google and Verizon both bid for a bunch of wireless spectrum the FCC was auctioning off. Verizon won with a bid of $4.7 billion (Gustin says Google never really wanted the spectrum, just a guarantee of open access rules, which it got).

Now, Verizon is preparing to roll out a 4G network that, thanks to its agreement with Verizon to dominate the mobile universe with variously crippled or open Android phones, would give Google access to a huge and fast new wireless network.

It appears that the seeds of the Goorizen deal were planted in 2008. Scary.